Fair Share? VP Biden Collects Rent of $2,200/Month From Gov't for Secret Service Lodging

Looking for a nice waterfront cottage for the summer? Don't ask Vice President Joe Biden, his place is full.

Since April, Biden has collected more than $13,000 in rent for a cottage adjacent to his waterfront home near Wilmington, Delaware, which he has charged to the federal government for housing secret service agents protecting him and his family. The Washington Times reports:

"Edwin M. Donovan, special agent in charge at the Secret Service's Office of Government and Public Affairs in Washington, said the agency pays $2,200 in rent per-month, the same amount a previous tenant had paid before moving out.

He said the close location provides a level of security for the Biden family the agency might not have had otherwise. Asked if the Secret Service typically pays rent to the people it protects, he said, 'It’s a rental property so we pay rent there.'

Taxpayer watchdogs say the Secret Service should do everything it can to protect Mr. Biden, but they wonder whether he should be collecting rent from the agency while it’s doing its job."

Biden and his wife Jill reported earning $379,178 last year, which is miniscule in comparison to the incomes of many of the Vice President's fellow lawmakers in Washington.  Still, many find it odd that the man who has been leading deficit reduction negotiations between Republicans and the White House over the last few weeks is collecting such a pretty penny from the U.S. Secret Service.

“'He should be afforded every single protection available to him and his family, as should every vice president and president,' said Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste.

'But this arrangement seems bizarre to me,' she added. 'You’d think the vice president, who shepherded the deficit committee, would think twice about charging the Secret Service rent. Why would he need the money? I don’t get it.'"

Maybe the secret service can take up Amtrak Joe's old D.C. to Wilmington commute.